Body Psychotherapy may also be referred to as body-oriented psychotherapy and somatic psychology. It is a significant branch of psychotherapy, with origins in the work of Pierre Janet, Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich.

Body psychotherapy addresses the body and the mind as a whole, with emphasis on the complex reciprocal relationships within the body and the mind. It includes an awareness of the client's process as manifested in their body, specifically in body language, emotional expression, affect, proxemics, psychosomatics, somatic resonance, and sexuality.